Car coupling device



June 13, 1933. R J. PRICE 1,913,994

INVENTOR June 13, 1933. R. JuPRICE 1,913,994

CAR COUPLING DEVICE Filed Feb. 18, 1952' 4 Sheet s-Sheet s INVENTOR June13, 1933. R. J. PRiCE 1,913,994

CAR COUPLING DEVICE Filed Feb. 18, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented June13, 1933 "amiss comreni, A con rona'rioiv on PENNSYLVANIA can.GOUPLINGQDEVICE" Application filed l 'eliruarym, 1es2.-- Serial110.5%,7911.

. This invention relates tecar coupling ap. paratus designedparticularly for coupling together the .cars or tables employed instraight-away glass grinding andpolishing 5 operations. In suchoperations, the cars with the glass seated upon their upper faces, aremoved in a continuous trainbeneath a series of grinding and polishingrunners. It is necessar under these conditions that the cars be heldtightly together so that their tops or faces constitute a vcontinuous,unbroken surface, and that such faces be held flush with each other, attheir abutting ends The primary objects of the present inventionflare toprovide an improved means whereby these objects. are accomplished,wherein the relative position of fthe car-[ends is, .maintainedregardless oflvibration or 7 strain, and which will perinit'a readycoupling and uncoupling-operation. Briefly stated, this is accomplishedby theuselof overlapping n embers arrangedon the abutting car ends vinconnection :Withcou'pling devieesw-hich in addition to pulling the carends tightly together. applies a powerful pressure, fo'rcing theupperone of the oven lapping members against thelower one so that the carends arefsecurely held" against relative vertical move1nent. Certainembodiments' of the'invention are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings,,where1n Figure, l is ahorizontal section in part on the line11- -1 of'Fig. Qand in'lflpart, on the line Iil of Fig.2; Fig.2 is asection on the linen-E11 of. Fig. 1. .FiggB is a side elevation. Fig..45i s an end elevation. Fig. '5 is a diagrammatic perspective view Fig.6 is a -detail perspective view v ,And'Fig 7 is a verticalsectionthrough a modification.

, Referring to the drawings, 1 and 2 are the endsof abutting tables orcarsprovided with the wear plates where their tops'engage. The tablesare moved along. the track 4; by means of racks5 (Fig. 42) extendinglongi- .45 ,tudinally of..then1id,dle of the tables and engaged bydriven spur, gears at suitable intervals. ,The endsof each pair. oftables are provided with the overlapping members 6 and 7 faced withsuitable fwear'plates and adapted to.- prevent. the movement of the endof the car 1 upward with respecttojthe'end of the ear Qwhen the cars arein the coupled position shown in Fig. 3. Each pair of car ends is.provided with two couplingvdevices, only one of which is shown in Figs,1 and 2 since only half-of the caris illustra'ted. vIt will be,understoodthat the other side of the car is provided wit-ha couplingmeans which is similar in allrespects to the one which is illustratedand described. 7 It will be further understood, however, that this ismerely. a preferred, construction and that, if desired, the cars ortables maybe coupled together by a single. coupling device. 7 indicatedin Fig. 2, the car 2 is'provided with an u Wardly facinghook member 8provided wit a wear plate9 and thecar 2 is provided with, a swinginghook member 10'which faces downwardly and is provided with a wear late11. .The opposingengaging facesof t e hook members. is at an engle.ofapproximately degrees so-that when: a

the hook member 10,

pull applied' to I length, the car. ends are the direction of its pulledtogether {and a lifting force is applied on the en'd'of the car 1tendingte move it; upwardwith respectto the-end of the car 2, thisupward "movement being resisted by the ioverlapping 'members 6', and;'Z; .The

' coupling, therefore, serves in jconnection with the. overlappingmembers band 7 to securely hold the carf'ends against. relative verticalmovement in addition toperforn ing' the function of securing the carends against a horizontal movein'ent'of separation.

' Thehook member' 10 is mounted eccentri Cally so that in the couplingoperationit is first swung in a clockwise direction until its engagingface is in opposition to the; engag ing face of the hook member 8;,after which the member lOis moved in the'direction of its length intoengagement with thehook memberS. In uncoupling, areverse movelmen toccurs, the hook member 10 being first moved endwise to disengage itfrom the hook member 8, after which 't is swung about its axisf'to asubstantially vertical position The hook member 10 is mountedupon ashaft having. the central portion 1 2 which is eee ea thi sr d tit ninee 3 13 (Fig. 1), the central portion 12 carries the hook member whilethe end portions 13, 13 are mounted for rotation in the ends of thelever 14. The lever 14 is fulcrumed on the under side of the car at 15,at which point it is supported by means of the bolt 16. Its left handend (Fig. 2) is held yieldingly in the position shown by means of thebolt 17 and spring 18. The eccentric shaft 12, 13 is rotated to secure acoupling and uncoupling action by means of a shaft 19 pivoted in thebearings 20, 20 and connected at its inner end to the shaft 12, 13 bymeans of a flexible coupling 21. Such flexible coupling is necessary dueto the fact that the lever 14 in which the shaft 12, 13 is journalledmoves slightly in a vertical direction during the coupling action sothat some relative movement must be provided between the ends of theshafts 12, 13 and the shaft 19. The shaft 19 is oscillated by means ofthe lever 22 provided with the rollers 23 and 24 adapted to ride on thecam rails 25 and 26. While the roller 23 rides on the cam track 25, theparts of the coupling are held in the position indicated in h Fig. 2.When the roller 23 is released from the rail 25 and the roller 24 is engaged by the inclined end of the rail 26 (Fig. 3), the lever 22 is swungin a counter clockwise direction to the position shown in Fig. 5, thusseparating the coupling hooks. Asindicated in Fig. 5, the lever 14 isprovided with a pair of stop shoulders 27 which serve to limitthedownward swinging movement of the hook 10 when the carends areseparated. The hook 10 is thus always maintained at a sufhcient heightto properly engage with the hook 8 when the two cars are caused to comeinto abuttingrelation. The shaft 12, 13 is also provided with a pair ofhook lifting dogs 28, 28 as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, such dogs serving toengage the hub of the hook member 10 and swing that in operation theupper it to anjupright position after the endwise movement of the hookhas released its en= gaging face from the engaging face of the hookmember 8. The parts are so arranged that when the hook member 10 ismoved to final coupling engagement as shown in Fig. 2, the shaft 12, 13is moved bodily upward a slight distance causing a downward movement ofthe left hand end of the lever 14, thus increasing the compression ofthe spring 18. A powerful yielding engagement is thus secured betweenthe faces of the overlapping members 6 and 7. The cars or tables areheld together with such security faces of the cars at their meeting endsare held perfectly flush so that, if desired, the glass which is to beground may be laid over this joint.

Fig. 7 illustrates a modification which accomplishes the same result asthe construction of Figs. '1 to 6 and has the advantage of being asimpler, cheaper construction. In this construction, the hook member 29is pivoted upon an eccentric shaft 30 similar to the shaft 12, 13, buthaving its ends pivoted upon a bracket 31 rigidly secured to the bottom.of the car end 32; Themeansfor rotating the'shaft 30 is the same as inthe construction of Figs. 1 to 6, an operating shaft similar to theshaft 19 being employed which carries at its end the lever 33 providedwith the rollers 34 and 35. These rollers engage cam rails correspondingto the cam rails 25 and 26 and the operation of the coupling due tothe'movement of the cars is the same as heretofore explained inconnection with the other form of device. The hook member 40 on the endof the car 36 instead of being fixed as in the construction of 1 to 6 ispivoted to the car end at 37 and is held yieldin ly in the positionshown by means of the bolt 38 and spring 39. The two car ends areprovided with overlapping members like the members 6 and 7 shown in Fig.3 with the lower member correspond.- ing to the member 7 on the end ofthe car 32. When the lever 33 is moved in a clock wise direction to theposition shown in Fig. 7 the hook 29 is moved in the direction of itslength so that the cars are pulled tightly together and force is applieddownward on the hook 4O placing the spring 39 under compression andforcing the overlapping mem-- her on the car end 32 into tightengagement with its op nosing member "on the end of the car 32. Thefunction accomplished in the construction is, therefore, precisely thesame as that in the construction of Figs. 1 to 6.

Unless provision is'made to avoid it, there would be a large amount ofwear between the plates 6 and 7 (Fig.3) and in the course of time lostmotion would occur which would; defeat the purpose of the overlappingdevices. To take care of this difiicult'y,1cams 40, 40 (Figs. 3 and 4)are provided along the sides of the tracks, and the flanges 41,

41 of the two wheels of the car which carry the upper late 6 and lieadjacent such plate are of slightly greater diameter than that of theflanges of thewheels on the ad o1ning car, so that when the cars arebrought to abutting relation preliminary to coupling, the plate 6 doesnot engage the plate 7. The same condition exists when the plates areuncoupled so that there is no wear at this point. When the couplingapparatus 1s 0perated the plate 7 is pulled up against the plate 6. v

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a pair of abutting cars with overlapping membersat the ends of the cars so that the car end carrying the lower of thetwo members is held positively against movement upward relative to thefother car end, a pair of'oppositely facing icoupling hooks carried bythe two car ends one 'of which is fixed and the "other is mounted'forswinging movement, and operating means for the swinging hook arranged sothat the actuation of the hook pulls the car ends horizontally againsteach other and exerts a yielding force vertically tending to presstheupper of said overlapping members downward against the other of saidmembers.

2. In combination with a pair of abutting cars with overlapping membersat the ends of the cars so that the car end carrying the lower of thetwo members is held positively against movement upward relative to theother car end, a pair of oppositely facing coupling hooks carried by thetwo car ends one of which is fixed and the other is mounted for swingingmovement, and operating means for the swinging hook arranged so that theactuation of the hook pulls the car. ends horizontally against eachother and ex erts a yielding force vertically tending to pres'sthe upperof said overlapping members downward against the other of said members,the engaging faces, of the two hooks being inclined at an angle to thehorizontal.

3. In combinationwith a pair of abutting cars, means for coupling themtogether, which comprises an upwardly facing hook member secured to theend of one car having its engaging face inclined forwardly and upwardly,a second hook member mounted for vertical swinging movement and formovement in the direction of its length on the end of the'other car andadapted to engage the first hook member, said second hook member havingits engaging face inclined at the same angle as that of the first hookmember when in engaging position, operating means for swinging thesecond hook member adapted to move such member in the direction of itslength after it has been swung so that the engaging faces of the hookmembers are in opposition, and yielding means cooperating with one ofsaid hook members and placedunder stress by the movement of the secondhook member in the direction of its length.

4. In combination with a pair of abutting cars, means for coupling themtogether, which comprises an upwardly facing hook member secured to theend of one car having its engaging face inclined forwardly and upwardly,a support carried by the end of the other car and yieldingly heldagainst upward movement, a second hook member pivoted on the support forvertical swinging movement and for movement in the di-.

rection of its length and adapted to engage the first hook member, saidsecond hook member having its engaging face inclined at the same angleas that of the first hook member when in engaging position, andoperating means for swinging the second hook member adapted to move suchsecond hook member .111 the direction of its length after it has beenswung so. thatthe engaging faces of the hook members are in opposition.

5. In combination with a pair of abutting cars, means for coupling themtogether, which comprises an'upwardly facing hook member secured to theend of one car having its engaging face inclined forwardly and upwardly,a second hook member mounted for vertical swinging movement and formovement inthe direction of its length ontheend of the other car andadapted to engage the first hook member, said second hook member havingits engaging face inclined at the same angle as that of the first hookmember when in engaging position, operating means for swinging thesecond hook member adapted tomove'such member in the direction of itslength after it has been swung so that the engaging faces of thehookmembers are in opposition, and yielding means for holding. the firsthook member against downward movement.

6. In combination witha pair of abutting cars, means for coupling themtogether, which comprises an upwardly facing hook member secured to. theend of one car having its engaging face inclined forwardly and upwardly,a second hook member mounted for= vertical swinging movement and formovement in the direction of its length on the end of the other. car andadapted to engage the first hook member, said second hook member havingits engaging face inclined at the same angle as that of the first hookmember when in engaging position, and operatingv means for swinging thesecond hook member arranged to move such member in the direction-of its.length after it engages the first hook member, said first'hook memberbeing pivoted at one end to the'car end and spring heldagainst downwardmovement about itspivot.

' 7. In combination with a pair of abutting cars, means for couplingthem together, which comprises. an upwardly facing hook member securedto the end of one car having its engaging face. inclined forwardly andupwardly, azsecond hook member mounted for vertical swinging movementand for movement in the direction of its length on the end of the othercar and adapted to engage the first hook member, said second hook memberhaving its engaging face inclined at the same angle as that of the firsthook member when in engaging position, operating means for swinging thesecond .hook member adapted to move such member in the direction of itslength after it has been swung so that the engaging faces of the hookmembers are in opposition, overlapping means at the opposing ends of thecars preventing the upward movement of the car end carrying the secondhook member with respect to the other car end, and yielding meanscooperating with one of said hook members and placed under stress by themovement of the second hook member in the direction of-its length.

8. In combination with a pair of abutting cars, means for coupling themtogether, which comprises an upwardly facing hook member secured to theend of onevcar having its engaging face inclined forwardly and upwardly,a support carried by the end of the other car and yieldingly heldagainst upward movement, a second hook member pivoted on the support forvertical swinging movement and for movement in the direction of itslength and adapted to engage the first hook member, said second hookmember havin its engaging face inclined at the same angle as that of thefirst hook member when in engaging position, overlapping means at theopposing ends of the cars preventing the upward movement of the car endcarrying the second hook member with respect to the other car end,operating means for swinging the second hook member adapted to move suchsecond hook member in the direction of its length after it has beenswung so that the engaging faces of the hook members are in opposition.

9. In combination with a pair of abutting cars, means for coupling themtogether, which comprises an upwardly facing hook member secured to theend of one car having its engaging face inclined forwardly and upwardly,a second hook member mounted for vertical swinging movement and formovement in the direction of its length on the end of the other car andadapted to engage the first hook member, said second hook member havingits engaging face inclined at the same angle as that of the first hookmember when in engaging position, operating means for swinging thesecond hook member adapted to move such member in the direction of itslength after it has been swung so that the engaging faces of the hookmembers are in opposition, overlapping means at the opposing ends of thecars preventing the upward movement of the car end carrying the secondhook member with respect to the other car end, and yielding means forholding the first hook member against downward movement.

10. In combination with a track and a pair of abutting cars thereon withoverlapping members at the ends of the cars so that the car end carryingthe lower of the two members is held positively against movement upwardrelative to the other car end, flanges on the wheels of the car endhaving the upper overlapping member which have a diameter greater thanthat of the wheels of the opposing car end, cam means along the sides ofthe rails constituting the track for engaging the flanges of the pair ofary, 1932.

ROBERT J. PRICE.

